Cat Hit and Run Death Mobilizes Florida Neighborhood

Hearing the chime of his little bells, he stared into his green eyes, and felt his soft black and white fur, it was never perfect in Coral Gables.

When a speeding car sweeped through the neighborhood took the life of this beloved cat earlier this month, his dead city gathered over 100 families to demand that the Coral Gables city be safe.

The adventurous life of one cat has led some of the city’s top officials, including police chiefs and those who will be in office in next month’s election, to leave city hall on Wednesday on the streets Carrot once walked to talk about the solution.

On March 6, Sadia Raja was devastated to learn from her neighbor that a carrot pet, a three-and-a-half year old pet, was killed in a speeding car near her home in the Italian village section, the historic neighborhood of Coral Gables, inspired by an Italian farmhouse. Carrot was declared dead soon after being rushed to the emergency veterinary clinic by Raja, her husband and two children.

“It was horrifying…but we took him home and said goodbye,” she said. “We’re all influenced. For me it was like having kids.”

Raja decides to share a group chat with about 100 mothers in the Italian village where Italian carrots died, but little has been known how much of an impact he had. Within 24 hours, the community had created a petition requesting the city to do something to end speeding cars in the city.

“Guaranteed officially”

Raja and her neighbors have spent the past five years getting the city’s attention on the issue of speeding on Altara Avenue, between the 500 and 600 blocks, just off Riviera Drive.

Police numbers say about 780,000 cars pass through the coral gables every day. This block is just one of many residential areas that commuters use to get through and avoid crowds.

This nearly attacked the mother while walking the children and dogs as commuters and young drivers from nearby Gables High tried to beat traffic, Raja said.

The carrot was the first deadly thing in the neighborhood. Residents had not received direct communications from the city prior to his death, but city officials were conducting research to assess speed precautions on the streets. However, neighbors felt that this process was tied up by bureaucratic doublespeak.

It took Raja four days after his death for the petition to be drafted and 100 families to sign and request a speed bump.

“The situation is becoming increasingly dangerous,” read the petition. “My beloved pet, carrot,… was attacked and killed in the daytime by a speeding vehicle. This tragic and avoidable incident underscores the urgency of our demands. We can’t afford to wait any longer while our family lives in fear of another accident.”

Shortly after Raja sent the petition to the city, city authorities responded. Mayor Vince Lago called her, and Deputy Mayor Ronda Anderson and committee members Kirk Menendez and Ariel Fernandez visited her home to pay homage to the carrots and listen to their concerns. (It should be noted that the city election took place on April 8th, while Anderson seeks reelection as commissioners, Lago and Menendez were locked up in a nasty campaign for the mayor.)

With the assistance of Raja, Fernandez set up a neighbourhood meeting to discuss urban traffic rotation work.

Fernandez brought in two police majors: Edward James Fudak, the Chief of Police in Coral Gables, Jose Gomez, the vice-mayor of the Public Works, and Hermes Diaz, the Chief of Public Works.

Authorities explain that the neighborhood has undergone a speed table approval process, such as speed bumps, and will install speed limit signs. The roads are controlled by Miami-Dade County, so the city must conduct two studies, and if it passes, the neighborhood must approve two votes and receive support.

“We’ve become a reactive city, it should be an active city,” Fernandez told the crowd, explaining that he saw him speed up in the seconds he was in the neighborhood. “But I hope this is a step towards being proactive. It’s a complicated situation… We don’t really make decisions about what we can do with our city blocks, but there are things we can do to mitigate some of that situation.”

The city has requested research to track traffic and speed tracking, and is receiving more funds to place speed tables and other speed deterrents in the neighborhoods passing through it, officials said.

Some residents were not particularly pleased with how long the process would take.

“I understand that you have a bureaucracy, but we’re talking about life here,” one neighbor said. “We have to do something.”

Hudak told residents there was more traffic enforcement. Once work is complete to install traffic cameras near Gables High, officers can move from the school to the neighborhood.

The conversation lasted about two hours before the officials and Raja walked through the neighborhood to see the matter in person.

“We’ll increase enforcement,” Hudak said. “I can’t fix something stupid…but I’ll catch it. You’ve now officially notified me that you’re worried about your child’s safety.”

“He leaves a huge blank space.”

Raja adopted carrots when he was 3 months old. Born on Easter, he was given a suitable name for his holidays, like a voyeur and bunny of his garbage companions.

Raja’s longtime friend and neighbor, Ileana Musa, described the carrot as one millionth of a million cats. Despite most cats’ skittish behavior and general fear of the unknown, the carrot tried to make friends with all the creatures around him, including the dog, she said.

“Some people will say it’s just a cat, but sometimes it’s a unique relationship between them that allows you to gain the power to mobilize some kind of action,” Musa said.

When Raja announced the death of the carrot to the community, she was shocked by the dozens of personal stories and photos she received about the way the carrot was exposed to the lives of her neighbors.

He would wait to greet him almost every morning in one neighbor’s car. He welcomes the children and babies to walk with his mother. One neighbor’s daughter loved carrots so she made a portrait of him.

“He leaves a big gap for a lot of people,” Musa said. “He was just special. He left a foot print for so many people in terms of the experiences they had with him, including me and my daughter.”

For Raja’s two children, the death of a carrot was a huge loss. Her 13-year-old daughter wears a collar as a bracelet when she goes to school.

At the family dining room table, there are still small all-nighters, flowers, books for children with dead pets, and photos given to the family by their neighbors.

“The carrots made us realize that there was a nearby mistake before, and now, as a family pet has died, the community pets have passed away and this could happen to our children,” Raja said.